"Strange. This old man had already chased with all his strength—why could he still not catch sight of that person's shadow?"
Chen Li was filled with doubt as he gave chase.
The moment he entered the Black House Wasteland, he lost all trace of that black shadow.
Just then.
A black shadow flashed past. Chen Li, who was running, felt a chill at his neck, and his entire body lost consciousness.
The dense fog along both sides of the road suddenly formed tendrils that dragged Chen Li's corpse into the mist, where it vanished without a trace.
After Chen Li's body was dragged into the fog, the road fell silent, as though nothing had happened.
But very soon, the same bizarre incidents began to unfold one after another.
—The first to die was a lone Rogue Cultivator.
Relying on his swift movement technique, the man boldly broke away from the crowd and sprinted ahead alone.
But just as he ran roughly a hundred meters, the dense fog at both sides of the road suddenly surged, and a black shadow swept past him.
"Pfft!"
Blood sprayed everywhere as the Rogue Cultivator's head flew high into the air.
His body, meanwhile, retained its running posture and charged forward several more steps before crashing to the ground.
It was then dragged into the fog by misty tendrils.
Qin Shuang and the others seemed utterly unable to see everything happening not far away.
—The second to die was a disciple of the Blazing Sun Sect.
That disciple had originally been following behind Liu Yulong, casually surveying his surroundings.
But the instant he fell a few steps behind, a pitch-black tendril suddenly stretched out from the fog and coiled around his ankle like a venomous snake.
He did not even have time to scream before he was violently dragged into the mist, leaving behind only a blurry bloodstain that slowly spread across the ground.
"Hm?" Liu Yulong seemed to sense something. He abruptly turned around, only to discover that one person was missing from the group.
"Where is Li Yue?" he asked with a frown.
The guards beside him looked at one another, yet not a single one had noticed their companion's disappearance.
—The third to die was a disciple of the Mystic Maiden Palace.
Upon hearing this, Nangong Ruyan suddenly stopped walking, her dark pupils narrowing slightly.
"Miss?" the maid beside her asked in confusion.
"Where is Zhou Bing?" Nangong Ruyan's voice was icy.
The four maids instantly became alert, but they soon discovered that the female disciple who had been standing at the outermost edge had vanished without a sound.
Only a broken jade hairpin remained on the ground.
Only now did everyone realize that something was wrong.
They hurriedly looked toward the people around them.
"My senior sister is gone too."
"Junior Brother, where are you?"
"Big Brother..."
After a swift investigation, they discovered that thirteen sect disciples from various factions had vanished without a trace.
Qin Shuang stopped walking.
He stood in the middle of the road and slowly drew the Blood Drinking Saber from his back.
The instant the blade left its sheath, the surrounding fog actually retreated several paces as though it were alive.
"Get out here," he said coldly.
No one answered.
But in the next instant, the dense fog along both sides of the road abruptly churned, and dozens of pitch-black tendrils shot toward him like sharp arrows!
Qin Shuang's gaze was cold, his saber light crimson. In an instant, he severed several tendrils.
Black fluid splattered onto the ground, corroding one charred pit after another like potent acid.
"Hmph, playing tricks with ghosts and gods!"
He snorted coldly, his saber momentum unabated as he fiercely cleaved toward the depths of the fog.
"Boom—!"
Where the saber qi passed, it forcibly split open a crack in the dense fog, vaguely revealing a twisted black shadow within.
The shadow had a humanoid shape, yet seemed to be formed from countless wisps of mist. It had no facial features, only a pair of scarlet eyes staring fixedly at Qin Shuang.
"Hehehe..."
After a burst of piercing laughter, the black shadow vanished once more.
"Young Sect Master, this fog... something is wrong with it!" an elder of the Azure Sun Sect said in a low voice.
Liu Yulong turned his gaze toward Nangong Ruyan.
She lifted the crystal ball in her hands and softly chanted an incantation.
The clouds within the orb churned violently, reflecting the black shadow speeding through the fog.
The dense fog along both sides of the road suddenly billowed as countless tendrils attacked from every direction, descending upon everyone like an enormous black spiderweb.
"You're courting death!"
Qin Shuang's gaze turned icy. The Blood Drinking Saber spun sharply, and crimson saber light swept out like a storm, severing tendril after tendril.
Liu Yulong's jade-bone fan snapped open with a swish, and hidden silver needles tore through the air, ruthlessly pinning more than ten tendrils to the ground.
Seeing this, the disciples of the other sects also unleashed their signature techniques—
"Mystic Ice Talisman, freeze!"
A female cultivator flung out three ice-blue talismans. Frost qi erupted, freezing several tendrils solid.
"Blazing Flame Slash!"
Song Yuanming roared as he cleaved out scarlet saber qi. Wherever the flames passed, the black fog gave off sizzling burning sounds.
However, the black shadows within the mist were far stranger than they had imagined.
Those tendrils actually wriggled rapidly after falling to the ground, merging back into the fog as though they were immortal and indestructible.
"Whoosh!"
A black shadow suddenly sprang from the ground, coiling around a disciple's leg like a venomous snake and violently dragging him into the fog.
"Ah—!"
The scream came to an abrupt stop.
"Damn it!" A trace of anger flashed through Liu Yulong's eyes. He suddenly raised his right hand, shooting out a streak of azure light like an arrow that instantly pierced through the black shadow.
"Pfft!"
Struck by the azure light, the black shadow actually let out a pained shriek before turning into black smoke and retreating into the dense fog.
"Hmph, nothing much after all."
Liu Yulong sneered, but his smile quickly froze.
Because deeper within the fog, more scarlet eyes lit up...
—There was more than one black shadow!
At the same time, Wei Qing's group of four at the rear were also attacked.
"Holy shit... what was that thing just now?"
Jun Wushang stood with his saber raised before Zhang Xue. Thick black fluid still dripped from the blade as he watched the dense fog around them with full vigilance.
Zhang Xue tightly clutched a corner of Jun Wushang's clothing, her face bearing the expression of someone who had narrowly escaped death.
Three breaths earlier, a pitch-black tendril had shot out from the dense fog, aiming directly for her throat.
Had Jun Wushang not reacted quickly and severed it with one slash, she might have been buried here today.
Tantai Yue frowned as she looked at the tendril she had severed. As though it were still alive, it rapidly wriggled before merging back into the dense fog once more.
Wei Qing said nothing. He merely stepped half a pace forward, shielding the three of them behind him.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."
Fine scraping sounds suddenly rose from the dense fog around them, like countless snakes slithering through grass.
Jun Wushang tightened his grip on his saber and said in a low voice, "We're surrounded."
Before his words had even faded, more than ten tendrils shot out from the fog at once!
True Essence surged within Wei Qing as the profundity—Lotus—suddenly activated!
Nine lotus blooms burst into existence, vital energy roiling as a thirty-foot-tall Blood Shadow condensed.
The phantom followed Wei Qing's saber swing and struck. As the dozen or so tendrils were severed, they instantly turned into wisps of green smoke and completely dispersed.
"Ao..."
A shrill scream rang out from within the dense fog.
In an instant, the fog seemed to have been enraged. It roiled violently like boiling black water as countless tendrils attacked simultaneously from every direction.
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